Reported Speech Questions

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Reported Questions Grammar:

a. We use introductory verbs like ask, wonder, want to know, inquire...

b. We change the interrogative word-order to statement word-order.

c. All the other changes in indirect speech still apply.

Examples:

Feng: How old is your cousin?
Feng asked me how old my cousin was.

Her Mother: Do you smoke?
Her mother asked me if I smoked.

Questions With Question Words

If the direct question begins with a question word like how much, where, when, how, which, why, whose, what etc., we repeat the same question word in the indirect speech.

Examples:

Direct : She said, "How is your brother?"
Indirect: She asked me how my brother was.

Direct : Lea said, "why did you cry?"
Indirect: Lea asked why I had cried.

Direct : Hill said, "How long will you stay in Greece?"
Indirect: Hill asked me how long I would stay in Greece.

Yes/No Questions (With Helping Verb)

Yes/No questions are converted into indirect speech using "if" or "whether".

Example:

Direct : The doctor told me, "Does your father drink wine?"
Indirect: The doctor asked me if my father drank wine.

Direct: He wanted to know, "Did you tell the truth to the police?"
Indirect: He wanted to know if I had told the truth to the police.

Direct: He said, "Have you ever played for your school soccer team?"
Indirect: He wanted to know if I had ever played for my school soccer team.

Reported Speech Yes/No Questions Exercise

Also See:

Indirect Speech
Indirect Speech Tense Shift
Reported Speech Imperatives

Reported Speech Exercises:

Reported Speech Yes/No Questions Exercise
Reported Speech Examples
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